Jan. 21, 2008 Monday

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In the wake of being pleased with having a properly-functioning Internet connection, I woke up around 7 the next morning and eventually found myself in the kitchen, along with the Husband, who is rarely up before 8. He announced that we had no heat. Being only slightly awake, it didn't register right away. Then I noticed that it felt kinda cold. And sure' nough it was 56 degrees - just a bit too chilly for me. The Husband had turned up the thermostat but failed to detect that reassuring hum of the heat pump going into action. That's because it wasn't. There was no response to the thermostat at all.

Now the guy who regularly did our heating and air conditioning work had retired, and not having as yet any need for heater repair, we had done nothing to find a replacement. So the hunt was on bright and early that morning for a new technically-ept heater repair guy.

We called folks who had had their heaters serviced and asked their opinions. We got names to call and did so. None of them worked on heat pumps except one, so he was it.

He arrived around two and spent two hours checking it out. He found a small blown fuse, which he replaced, charged me $125 and departed with the heater pumping out warmth. He added that he found no source of a short circuit (cause of the blown fuse), and that it might blow again. If it does, he'd have to trace the wiring to find the short circuit, which could be messy (all the wiring is in the walls).

So we have heat, but no security to go with it.

Did I mention that it's the coldest day of the winter so far?